NO, NO NANETTE (1971)

The Golden Age had proclaimed that songs had to be specific to the character and the situation. Generic “June-moon-spoon” rhymes were for the geriatric generation who were about to shuffle off this mortal coil. No, No, Nanette was known for its emphasis on lack of specificity in order to sell their compositions to mass audiences who could enjoy the music without knowing the story around the song. The opening night audience, young and old alike, numbed by the social unrest in the country and countless images of dead American soldiers on Vietnam battlefields, went through a hippie filled, cannabis infested Times Square, passing the marquees of rock and roll infused, cynical musicals to get to the 46th Street Theater where No, No, Nanette was about to be revived with geriatric actors and a score that sounded dated when it first opened almost fifty years earlier.